Today, content items are often “shared” rather than sent directly from one computer to another computer. In some cases, a content item is shared by storing the content item in cloud storage and providing one or more recipients with a link to download, view, or edit the content item. In some cases, a sharing user of a client device can choose a program by which to share a content item by opening a “share sheet” of recommended applications that can be used to send the link. These applications are selected from a group of applications that are already loaded onto the sharing user's client device.
Various applications have been configured to receive links from sharing users in different ways. For example, some social media applications are configured to provide a recipient with a preview of the linked content item's contents by pre-caching some of the file's contents before the user accesses the file from cloud storage. This allows the recipient to read the title of the file and some content before deciding to access the shared file. Other applications provide a simple user interface that recognizes that a link has been received, and highlight the link to indicate that selecting the link opens the linked file in a local browser when it is clicked.
Different applications provide different benefits based on their complexity or simplicity. As a result, different users prefer different methods of receiving these links to content items. For example, some users prefer receiving links passively by viewing data posted by the sharing user as it appears in the recipient's feed in a social media application. Other users prefer to receive links to content items more directly by receiving the link through instant message, text message or email. Sharing the same content item with multiple recipients through their preferred application for receiving the link can be a time consuming endeavor.
One approach to sharing the same content item with multiple friends includes tagging people as part of a group, and then offering an option to share the content item with everyone in that group. For example, a user may wish to share a photo with only the people tagged as friends. At the time a user wishes to share a link, the user is given the option to share with friends, family, or everyone. The user selects the group “friends” and sends the link to the different feeds of the individual users in that group. Unfortunately, this approach limits the application in which a user can share with those people. For example, a user using Facebook® that chooses to share a photo with friends may only share with friends that also have Facebook accounts. An additional limitation is that the people in the particular group need to be tagged as friends prior to sending the photo to the group.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.